April 20, 2019

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Sports April 20, 2019

Soccer Star Abby Wambach Turns Rallying Commencement Speech Into New Book, ‘Wolfpack’

NPR’s Sacha Pfeiffer speaks with retired Olympic soccer star Abby Wambach about her new book, Wolfpack: How to Come Together, Unleash our Power, and Change the Game



SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:

Abby Wambach was a major soccer star – two Olympic gold medals, the all-time highest goal score among women and men internationally, global recognition. But when Barnard College, the all-women’s school in New York City, asked her to give its commencement address last year, she felt underqualified. So she poured her heart into her speech and decided to turn it into a rallying cry for women.

That hard work paid off. Her speech went viral, and she’s now turned it into a book about leadership for people everywhere. It’s called “WOLFPACK: How To Come Together, Unleash Our Power, And Change The Game.” Abby Wambach is with us from Colorado Public Radio to talk about some of the leadership lessons in her new book.

Abby, welcome to the show.

ABBY WAMBACH: Wow. That was that was maybe the best introduction that I’ve gotten…

PFEIFFER: (Laughter).

WAMBACH: …Over the last couple weeks being on the road with this. So can I take you with me everywhere I go now, Sacha?

PFEIFFER: We’re glad to hear that. Thank you for that. So you actually start your book with a note to readers. It’s about a company that was hiring you to teach leadership. And the man you were talking with told you he wanted to make sure that your presentation was also applicable to men. You had a sassy reply. Would you tell our listeners how you responded to him?

WAMBACH: Yeah. I said, good question, but only if you ask that of other male speakers for the women that will be in the audience. You know, and I think that – the reason why I wanted to start the book off with this specific anecdote is because I have to bring light to some of the micro-aggressions or insidious things that men say that women have to take and eat and store away.

And, you know, this is also part of the book, where I’m inviting men into this solution, into this conversation. Because I don’t believe myself to be this righteous feminist who doesn’t – and is male-hating. Like, I actually really think that men have to be a part of the solution for us to create the change that we want to see in the world. And so this is kind of my invitation. And a way to draw men into this conversation is to kind of showcase an instance that has happened to women so often.

PFEIFFER: A constant theme is the book is that leadership has no universal form. You can lead from wherever you are in life. And you give an example near the end of your career. It’s your final season on the U.S. women’s national soccer team. You’re no longer a starter. That could feel really devastating. But you realized you can lead from the bench. I love that idea – lead from the bench. Can you talk about that a little?

WAMBACH: Yeah. Yeah. You know, I think everybody knows what it feels like to be benched. And I think that we have to acknowledge the fact that we’re human beings, and that’s going to hurt. So you’re allowed to be disappointed. But what you’re not allowed to do is to miss your opportunity to lead from the bench.

You know, in 2015, I came off the bench for our Women’s National Team and my final World Cup. We ended up winning this World Cup, and I think that there was a reason. And it wasn’t just because of the players on the field – it was because of the support that they were given by those players that were sitting on the bench and that came off the bench to close out those games.

You know, it’s not easy. Like, I have children, and I see the feelings that run through them when they aren’t starting. But I also have to get my children aware of what they’re doing in their body language and their response to that benching, what that can do to the collective because, at the end of the day, we have to figure out, we have to decide if you and your ego mean more than the group’s win, than the collective success of everyone else, whether it’s being left off a project or not given the raise or not getting the – not got the job. Or you’re at home, and you’re nursing your child, and you’re home on maternity leave and fearing that your colleagues are getting ahead.

There’s so many different versions of what it means to be benched. And I can safely say that I wouldn’t have learned the full context of what really true leadership is about until I had the opportunity to lead from the bench.

PFEIFFER: You write about how after you retired, your greatest loss was losing your team, your teammates. That was so important to you. And at a certain point, you had taken a break from physical activity. You were trying to get back into running. It was really hard. And your wife pointed out to you, well, you’ve lost your team. You’re trying to do it alone. So you have a lesson that says, find your pack. I like that, too. Tell us what you mean by that. How do you find a pack?

WAMBACH: Our Women’s National Team has been so successful over decades since the beginning of the creation of the team, right? And all of these women – we all think that we’re the best in the world. Rightfully so – but you can imagine that environment and the standards and the competition and the challenge and the demanding aspects of it. So, having lived inside of this little ecosystem for so many years, I became so accustomed to having those around me push me to become my best self.

So I took a few years off, and I got super unfit, but I needed – my body needed a complete reset. So I started running again, and this whole thing – like, I hate running. I hate every step of it. And I would come home, and I would complain. And eventually, my wife was, like, look – like, you don’t have your teammates around you.

And it dawned on me – like, wow. Oh, OK. I see how this works. Suffering and joy is made so much better when you get to do it with people around you that see your best self and hold you to that account.

PFEIFFER: It’s common for professional athletes after they retire to feel like they’ve lost their identity. What have you done to kind of rebuild who you are? Do you feel like you have an identity again after your pro career?

WAMBACH: You know, that’s a really great question. Our book hit No. 3 on the New York Times bestseller list on Wednesday. And here I am having written this book and stepping into a different version of, you know, women’s rights feminist icon. And it’s something I’m really proud of because I had to really educate myself on what I believe to be true.

And so I – I don’t know. I think that recreating a person’s identity is happening on the daily. And I – for me – I want to keep breaking free from all of these identities and get down to that last one, which is human. And I hope that people out there feel the same way because we are all the same matter.

PFEIFFER: That soccer star Abby Wambach.

Abby, thank you.

WAMBACH: Thank you, guys.

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Business April 20, 2019

Maxwell House Partners With Amazon For A ‘Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ Passover Haggadah

With over 50 million printed copies, Maxwell House has released a new edition of their Haggadah, designed for fans of the Amazon show, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.



SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:

Last night marked the beginning of Passover, the holiday when Jews gather together to retell the story of the Exodus from Egypt. To do this, you need a haggadah. And as NPR’s Eliza Dennis reports, a common one in the U.S. comes from a place you might not expect.

(SOUNDBITE OF AD)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Smell good, ground coffee. That’s Maxwell House coffee.

ELIZA DENNIS, BYLINE: That’s right. Maxwell House is the producer of a popular haggadah in the U.S. Let me explain. The haggadah is a book of texts used during the Seder, Passover’s ritual meal. And Maxwell House produced their haggadah as a marketing tool.

JENNY SINGER: The Maxwell House haggadah is the longest-running sales promotion in advertising history.

DENNIS: That’s Jenny Singer. She is the deputy life and features editor for The Forward, a Jewish American publication. And she knows a thing or two about the Maxwell House haggadah. It all started with the 1920s ad-man Joseph Jacobs. He realized that his fellow Jews weren’t drinking coffee because they thought it wasn’t kosher for Passover. So he turned to Maxwell House.

SINGER: They got this kind of obscure Lower Eastside rabbi to give them the OK to say that coffee is kosher for Passover.

DENNIS: Joseph Jacobs saw an opportunity.

SINGER: You buy a pound of Maxwell, you get a free haggadah.

DENNIS: And people did. Maxwell House has printed more than 55 million haggadot.

SINGER: You open it up. And there are these gorgeous illustrations of Moses parting the Red Sea, and then the Israelites sitting down to drink Maxwell House coffee on the other side.

DENNIS: And it hasn’t changed much. The Maxwell House haggadah has only been updated to modernize some of the language and to include gender neutral pronouns. But this year, there’s a special edition.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL”)

RACHEL BROSNAHAN: (As Midge Maisel) And crazy, the famous mad divorcee of the upper west side.

DENNIS: That’s Midge Maisel, the main character of the hit TV show “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” set in 1950s New York City. She’s a Jewish housewife who makes brisket during the day and does standup comedy at night. And this year, Maxwell House and Amazon, which produces the show, teamed up on an updated version of the haggadah. It’s Pepto Bismol pink. It includes a recipe for Midge’s famous brisket, and is complete with wine stains and illustrations of the cast members.

ALEX BORSTEIN: I didn’t know Maxwell House still existed. I’m not even joking. Like, the coffee that I drink at this point are just always those little pod things. But I happily ordered some coffee.

DENNIS: That’s Alex Borenstein, the actress that plays Susie Myerson, Midge’s fearless agent.

BORSTEIN: She’s a little Jewish person.

DENNIS: And so is Borstein. She actually grew up using the Maxwell House haggadah.

BORSTEIN: It’s a long one. It’s the dry one. It’s the – it’s the fire and brimstone.

DENNIS: And what would her character Susie think?

BORSTEIN: Susie would be like, oh, my God, 63 pages? What, are we slaves again? How long are we stuck here? This is 40 years.

DENNIS: Borstein and a few other cast members will be having a Masel Passover tonight. And they’ll be using the Maxwell haggadot – well, mostly.

BORSTEIN: I like to add my own flavor.

DENNIS: Maybe we’ll see that version next year.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL “)

BROSNAHAN: (As Midge Maisel) You’ve been a great audience, ladies and gentlemen. That’s it for me. My name is Mrs. Maisel. Thank you, and good night.

DENNIS: Eliza Dennis, NPR News.

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Health April 20, 2019

Amid Rural Doctor Shortage, Dozens Of Medical Workers Charged In Opioid Crackdown

A recent opioid sting caught 60 people, including doctors, accused of enabling addicts. Physician Stephen Loyd tells NPR’s Sacha Pfeiffer how the sting could affect addicted patients.



SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:

A crackdown this week on opioid abuse resulted in federal criminal charges against 60 people accused of illegally prescribing and distributing opioids. They include doctors, nurses and pharmacists. One even allegedly traded drugs for sex. That sting focused on Appalachia, one of the areas hardest hit by the opioid epidemic. It’s a mostly rural area where access to health care is already a challenge for residents.

So we wanted to know about the impact of this crackdown on both addicts and people who rely on opioids to manage chronic pain. That’s something Dr. Stephen Loyd has been thinking a lot about over the last few days. He’s based in Nashville. And he’s the state of Tennessee’s former assistant commissioner for substance abuse. He’s also a former addict, and now works with addiction recovery programs in the Nashville area. Dr. Loyd, thank you for talking with us about this.

STEPHEN LOYD: Thanks so much for having me, Sacha.

PFEIFFER: More than half the people charged in the sting are from Tennessee, where you live. Seventeen of them are doctors. Give us some perspective on what happens when you remove 17 doctors and other health care officials from a rural area that already has a doctor shortage even if those doctors were doing criminal things?

LOYD: That’s something that, you know, that I think we really need to consider because a lot of these areas have a hard time recruiting providers in the first place. And I ran into this in previous work that I had done against doctors and nurse practitioners who were improperly prescribing. And even in open-and-shut cases, it’s very hard to remove those doctors from the community in front of the jury of their peers because they’re the only health care sometimes, you know, for miles.

And so it is an impact on the community. And I think that a lot of consideration has been given to that by our state officials. But it is an impact because of the restricted access to care, even if they are bad providers when it comes to prescribing controlled substances.

PFEIFFER: Well, and the reality is that some of these health care professionals who were charged will probably not be able to practice again. That really impacts people who relied on them to get opioids to manage chronic pain. What are the options for those patients now?

LOYD: There’s only so much you can do, Sacha, right? You can direct them towards another health care provider. But a lot of times, we’re talking about, you know, certified legitimate pain medicine doctors – which I can tell you, there are not enough of in our state, and certainly aren’t enough of in rural Appalachia – and then those people with addiction, you know, the people who, you know, who have been feeding their addiction through these illicit prescriptions. Legitimate addiction medicine doctors that are going to utilize evidence based practice, there is a shortage of those as well.

Now, if we’re talking about state agencies and state funded agencies that, you know, such things as the 21st Century Cures Act money that came down a few years ago initiated by President Obama and then, you know, followed through on with President Trump, that’s really good access to care. And my state’s done a great job with that. But the problem lies outside of their control, right? Because now we’re really talking about the stigma associated with chronic pain patients as well as patients with addiction disease, and therein is the underlying problem.

PFEIFFER: In terms of how to help people who’ve lost their doctors in this sting, the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services has publicized two hotlines that people can call to find treatment services or counselling. And they say they’re offering more training sessions to teach people how to use naloxone, the overdose reversal drug. Do you think that’s enough outreach?

LOYD: I think it’s a great response, right? It’s a great initial response. But I want you to think of it from a patient standpoint, and that’s where I come from. So – because I work in this everyday and I see the mindset – so it takes a lot to pick up the phone and call a hotline. And then, you know, being directed from care there, there’s a lot of follow through that has to happen. And there’s some folks that won’t do that for a lot of reasons. And so a lot of times, the easier alternative is is to seek it illicitly. So is it enough? No, I don’t think it’s ever enough. But I don’t think it’s anything that state agencies can control right now.

PFEIFFER: So if, as you say, this crackdown could result in people just looking elsewhere for drugs, maybe illegal drugs, what has been accomplished?

LOYD: Well, you have to take players like this out of the business. This is one of the things that frustrates me right now. The pharmaceutical industry points to now is, OK, we’re not talking about prescription pills anymore, right? We’re talking about illicit heroin and fentanyl. But people got started seeking heroin and fentanyl from the prescribing of those pain medications coming out of clinics like this. You absolutely have to cut that off.

The response will be what – where the key is in how we direct people to help.

PFEIFFER: So crack down on the doctors, but make sure there’s a support system ready for their patients.

LOYD: Absolutely. And the thing is – and this is so beautiful – is that when you get to watch lives change. For myself, you know, I used to get up every single morning thinking, you know, where am I going to get my pills? And that occupied my entire day. Now, keep in mind, I was a practicing physician. So I had some other things to do. And that’s what people who are, you know, who are addicted are facing every single day.

And now, you know, providing them with quality help and watching them change their lives is one of the most fun things that I’ve ever been involved with. We need to make that opportunity more widespread. We need to decrease the stigma around stepping out and ask for help. And also, Sacha, we need to make evidence-based treatment available without the stigma that goes along with it.

PFEIFFER: That’s Dr. Steven Loyd. He’s based in Nashville, Tenn. Thanks for talking with us.

LOYD: Thank you.

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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